Turn signals not always required

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If you’re making a turn or changing lanes, you have to signal first, right?

Not always, it turns out. California law requires a signal in the last 100 feet before a turn, but only if “any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.” And that distinction was enough to scuttle a couple of Orange County drug convictions.

The case comes from La Habra, where Officer Nick Wilson was driving his patrol car one evening in November 2009 and saw an SUV going the opposite way on an othewise-empty road. When the vehicle turned right without a signal, Wilson turned on his lights and made a traffic stop. He said the driver, Paul Carmona Jr., turned out to be a parolee, and his passenger, Alice Holguin, appeared very fidgety and nervous.

So, according to a state appeals court, Wilson searched the SUV and found baggies of methamphetamine and cell phone messages related to drug sales. After a judge upheld the stop and the search, the driver and the passenger both pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting drugs for sale. Carmona was sentenced to two years in prison, and Holguin to 90 days in jail.

But the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana said Wilson shouldn’t have stopped the SUV in the first place.

In a May 27 ruling, the court said the law that requires a signal 100 feet before a turn or lane change applies only when the turn may affect other drivers. Courts have interpreted that standard broadly — finding it was satisfied, for example, when a police car was 100 feet behind a motorist on an otherwise-deserted road. But the court said it doesn’t apply to a driver who’s turning right on the opposite side of the street from the only other car in the vicinity, which wasn’t turning anywhere.

“Because the evidence is undisputed the officer was not and could not have been affected by the turn and there were no other motorists on the road, no violation occurred,” the court said in a 3-0 ruling. And because the stop was illegal, so was the search, and both defendants can withdraw their guilty pleas, the court said.

Deputy Attorney General Scott Taylor said his office hasn’t decided whether to appeal the ruling. Carmona’s lawyer, Jay Moller, said Carmona has already served his prison sentence. And Moller and Taylor agreed that the ruling shouldn’t send a message to other drivers that it’s all right to turn without signaling.

“I think the lesson is to be on the safe side,” said Moller, noting the time that Carmona spent in prison. “Use your turn signal unless you’re on a deserted country road.”

Readers who want more information about the case can see the ruling here: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/G043846.PDF.